The CNN article about this new study is a chaotic scramble of mixed messages, but within it are the study's sane findings: that having extra weight is not only not harmful, but is in fact an asset to good health.

Here are the pertinent points:

Quote:

Being 25 pounds overweight does not appear to raise your risk of dying from cancer or heart disease, says a new government study that seems to vindicate Grandma's claim that a few extra pounds won't kill you.

Released just a few weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday...the findings might comfort some who cannot seem to lose those last 15 pounds. And they hearten proponents of a theory that it is possible to be "fit and f**."

...having a little extra weight actually seemed to help people survive some illnesses -- results that baffled several leading health researchers.

"This is a very puzzling disconnect," said Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital. "That is a conundrum."

It was the second study by the same government scientists who two years ago first suggested that deaths from being too f** were overstated...

"Over"weight people...are less likely to die from pneumonia, emphysema, injuries and various infections [than underweight individuals]...

...being merely "over"weight -- having a BMI between 25 and 30 -- did not increase the risk of dying from heart disease or any kind of cancer.

Also surprising was that "over"weight people were up to about 40 percent less likely than normal-weight people to die from several other causes including emphysema, pneumonia, injuries and various infections. The age group that seemed to benefit most from a little extra padding were people aged 25 to 59; older "over"weight people had reduced risks for these diseases, too.

Why extra f** ...might even help people survive some illnesses is unclear...

But University of South Carolina researcher Steven Blair, who says people can be f** and fit, is a believer. He called the report a careful and plausible analysis, and said Americans have been whipped into a "near hysteria" by hype over the U.S.'s ob***** epidemic...

People should...stop obsessing about carrying a few extra pounds or becoming supermodel thin, Blair said.

He says his hefty grandmother used to justify her extra padding, saying, '"That way I have protection in case I get sick.' Maybe there is something to that."

It's hilarious how puzzled the researchers seem to be by these results. They've been duped by their own weight hysteria. Once again, the knowledge of the past (note the references to the beliefs of "grandma," all of which are now vindicated) trumps the misguided brainwashing of the modern day.

The title is more accurate, and the facts are presented in a clearer and more unambiguous way:

Quote:

For the first time linking causes of death to specific weights, they report that "over"weight people have a lower death rate because they are much less likely to die from a grab bag of diseases that includes Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, infections and lung disease. And that lower risk is not counteracted by increased risks of dying from any other disease, including cancer, diabetes or heart disease.

...there were more than 100,000 fewer deaths among the "over"weight in 2004, the most recent year for which data were available, than would have been expected if those people had been of normal weight.

Some who studied the relation between weight and health said the nation might want to reconsider what are ideal weights.

“If we use the criteria of mortality, then the term ‘overweight’ is a misnomer,” said Daniel McGee, professor of statistics at Florida State University...

The new study began several years ago when the investigators used national data to look at death risks according to body weight. They concluded that, compared with people of normal weight, the "over"weight had a decreased death risk...

Dr. Gail...had some advice, which, he said, is his personal opinion as a physician and researcher: “If you are in the pink and feeling well...then I am not sure there is any urgency to change your weight.”

Its a welcome admission from researchers that full-figured women do NOT need to lose weight, but that rather, having extra weight is healthy.

But what I find especially significant is the statement that "the term overweight is a misnomer." These findings prove this to be the case. They show that, for women, having extra weight is in fact the truly "normal" and "ideal" weight, while being thinner is in fact underweight - and an increased mortality risk.

Proof, once and for all, that for women, being full-figured leads to a healthier you (and a more beautiful you as well - not to mention a more pleasurable life).

It is already known that curvaceous women live longer and that men find them more attractive but the new research suggests that they are also cleverer.

The study, to be published this week, shows that men who admire women with hourglass figures do so because they are more intelligent and therefore produce more intelligent children than waif-like women...

The scientists, from the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Pittsburgh...found that a woman's hips and thighs contained omega-3 f**ty acids, which help nurture both mother and baby's brains during pregnancy...

"Shapely hips and thighs hold essential nutrients that nurse brains and could produce smart kids, too," said one researcher, Steven Gaulin, of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

His colleague, William Lassek, from the University of Pittsburgh, said: "Men respond because it's reproductively important."

Scientific studies have consistently demonstrated that men through the ages have found women with hourglass figures more attractive.

A study published this year found that as far back as the ancient Egyptians men have sought out curvaceous women.

However, the reason for the attraction has never been conclusively proven. Many scientists believed that a shapely figure suggested to a man that a woman would be good at bearing children and have a longer life expectancy...

The research suggests that children born to teenagers do worse in cognitive tests because their mothers did not have enough of the omega-3 acids stored in their hips.

Proof, once and for all, that for women, being full-figured leads to a healthier you (and a more beautiful you as well - not to mention a more pleasurable life).

So very true. Now that the medical field has confirmed what many of us already suspected (and what bygone generations knew intuitively), there is simply no reason for full-figured women ever to starve or torture themselves again. Why should they deprive themselves of any enjoyment that life can offer them--food most of all?

Being naturally curvy has always allowed women a better quality of life, but this study's findings--verifying the health benefits of being full-figured--even offer the possibility of a greater quantity of life.

Typically, the results of this study were immediately drowned out in the mainstream press by another wave of weight hysteria (funded by the diet industry), but the truth can only be suppressed for so long, and the ideal of timeless femininty--a healthier ideal as well as a more beautiful one, as it turns out--will eventually be restored.

Shannon Marie, from an ad series in the final issues of Mode magazine. The clothing was...what it was, in those days, but even through the sheer cover over the dress, one can perceive the model's attractively full legs and soft, shapely arms.

This has always been our favourite commercial campaign. Just look at those baby-soft facial features, the peaches-and cream complexion, the voluminous golden hair, and her mischevous pout. Shannon Marie was, and remains, the most gorgeous plus-size model of all.